Last year, in what was clearly the actions of a guilty government, the Australian government detained a former ASIS agent who was going to testify against them over their bugging of the government of East Timor, raiding his house and stripping him of his passport. But yesterday, the International Court of Justice ordered Australia to stop interfering with witnesses, and to allow him to appear before it:
An international panel of jurists has ordered Australia to make available East Timor’s star witness – a former Australian spy – in a high-stakes legal battle between the two countries over $40 billion of disputed oil and gas reserves.
In a major blow to Australia, the panel of jurists has cleared the way for the former Australian Secret Intelligence Service officer to testify that he helped bug East Timor's cabinet room during negotiations over the Greater Sunrise oil and gas fields.
Australia's dirty tactics against East Timor and the ICJ are coming back to haunt it. Witness intimidation, spying on lawyers, not to mention the original spying itself - they're looking like a rogue state with no respect for justice or international law. And it makes it clear that the primary purpose of their spies isn't "national security", but to enrich Australian businesses. Which really makes you wonder why Australian voters pay for them or permit them to have such intrusive powers.
